Happy New Year everyone! To celebrate 2012 I’ve decided to start the year off with a travel poster that’s all about celebrating New Year’s Day. I give to you the Mummers Museum (warning, the site will sing to you)!

In the event you have no idea what a Mummer is that’s okay, I’ve lived in the city for almost ten years and I still don’t have a firm idea. What I do know is that it’s a Philadelphia tradition as old as the city (and subsequently older than the country) itself. What started off as people dressed in their finest visiting folks in the neighborhood and taking to the streets in revelry has turned into people dressed in thousands of feathers and millions of sequins parading down the middle of Philly on New Years Day.

The museum does a great job of setting up the history of the Mummers and teaching you the differences between the String Bands, Fancies and Comics. To be honest, though, I have no idea why the tradition has lasted so long or what they do the other 364 days of the year. Also, native Philadelphians are fiercely defensive about the Mummers so starting off a joke with Your Mummer is so fat… is likely to get you into a mess of trouble.

Travel Poster

For the travel poster I wanted to combine the celebratory feeling of the Mummers Parade with the museum in the background and, of course, a Mummer. Originally I wanted to have several Mummers representing each of the different kinds you get to see on New Years Day and have them parading behind the string band member. Unfortunately with the poster being taller than it is wide the other Mummers got crammed in there and with the confetti and feathers and sequins it became a mess of color; as true to life as that is, it does a poor job of illustrating the experience in a flattering way. Ultimately I settled on a single Mummer so you could focus on the costume and the museum with having to compete visually with all of the other Mummers around.

Prints Available

Purchase a travel poster print over at Society6.

Postcard

Luckily the horizontal nature of the postcard allowed me to add back some of those Mummers I wanted in the travel poster without the image devolving into chaos. I was especially happy because I’ve been in love with that fish thing since I laid eyes on it at the museum. Behind the fish are a couple of the comics, which, if you watch them on New Years morning, are less funny than their hangovers make them think they are. As you move backwards in the picture the costumes simpler, this was to make sure there wasn’t too much going on. Since comics don’t have fancy costumes it was easy to throw them in the back.

If you’re in Philly and you get the chance you should stop by. It’s a bit dusty and it doesn’t look like much gets updated besides the “Winners Circle” in the lobby. A Mummer costume can only be used for one year and, although I was surprised there weren’t more costumes on display, the ones you get to see are pretty amazing. Besides, what are the chances you’re going to see a Mummer and their crazy assortment of sequins and feathers unless you’re in the city to see the parade? And there’s still a whole year before that happens.